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I've kinda got over Black Mesa (never cared too much for original HL as I jumped into it past its prime, but I did love numerous mods), and been doing some old SNES Star Ocean, but I think a difficult boss and slightly haphazard battle mechanic are gonna close that for me...

I've been really having an itch for kind of a resource management/city building game of late. Been looking at Patrician 3,Anno 1602 (if I can figure out where to get it) or maybe Settles 2 (I loved Knights and Merchants back in the day and it was a rip off of Settlers afaik)? Any recommendation? I can get the first and last on GoG but any idea where I might find Anno (Ubi store doesn't have it, and Amazon has it for some ridiculous 40 bucks when I checked).

Or I could just click on the Alpha Centauri icon lingering on my desktop, but I am not sure it's a good idea given I have quite a bit of work to catch up with... last few play-through led to some nasty "oh shit its 5am already?" moments.

Comrade, Listen! The Glorious Commonwealth's first Airship has been compromised! Who is the saboteur? Who can be saved? Uncover what the passengers are hiding and write the grisly conclusion of its final hours in an open-ended, player-driven adventure. Dziekujemy! -- Karaski: What Goes Up...

Mainly Dark Souls, which quite frankly is a work of utter genius. I think anyone with a modicum of interest in game design needs to experience it, simply to appreciate the fantastic level design and the way in which the various sections all interlink. Is it challenging ? Yes. You will stumble and fall down a lot initially, but every failure teaches you a valuable lesson and you improve. I'd liken it a bit to that line from fightclub: -

The game doesn't seemingly hand hold you and the learning curve is steep, but once you accept that death is merely a setback and not a catastrophe then things fall into place. There's a lot to be gained from simple observation of the world around you before you proceed through the environments. A moment here or there to simply look at what is before you (as well as what is behind) can pay real dividends. Highly recommended for those seeking a unique gaming experience.

I couldn't agree more with all of the above points. I've been big-time obsessing on this game over the last couple of weeks, not only while playing it but also thinking about its design when I'm not playing.

"Tough but fair" is one of the best compliments that I can give this (or any) game. Whenever you die, it's rarely because the game screwed you. There are often scenarios where you will be newly venturing into an environment and a new enemy type will knock you on your butt. Repeatedly. But eventually, you will figure out that enemy type's patterns, exploits, and/or strategies so that later, you're crushing enemies that previously confounded you.

Another thing that I like is the variety of tactics the game supports for beating its foes. I'm continually surprised by the different tactics, builds, and weapons used in unique ways against bosses, for example. It reminds me a lot of the boss battles in the Metal Gear Solid games, in that at first attempt, you're typically overwhelmed by the boss. Then, you have to figure out a strategy that works. Finally, you have to EXECUTE that strategy really well, and once you've put all of the pieces together, you'll defeat that boss and the victory will be very satisfying. Dark Souls is very much like that, in terms of its environments, enemies, and bosses.

Don't get me wrong. The game can be punishing at times. It can seem cruel and heartless, and to be honest, it is. It's a game modeling a fantasy realm that is deeply hostile to you, where virtually everything wants to kill you and doesn't care about playing fair. The world is not designed to help you succeed (like Assassin's Creed, for example, where all of your enemies attack you one at a time, etc). The world is designed to develop you into the player that can succeed, if you're willing to go through the struggle to get there. Personally, I prefer a game that seeks to reward your diligence and performance rather than your simply inflating your ego.

Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines plus patch 8.3, as a Malkavian. Just went through the spooky hotel at night, bad idea.
Also found a new quest which has you reuniting two lovers. The player tells them at the end of the quest "Aww, vampires in love, you two would make a great airport paperback."

And the game is from like 2004, gotta love the madness. Requesting a worthy successor now.

I've been really having an itch for kind of a resource management/city building game of late. Been looking at Patrician 3,Anno 1602 (if I can figure out where to get it) or maybe Settles 2 (I loved Knights and Merchants back in the day and it was a rip off of Settlers afaik)? Any recommendation? I can get the first and last on GoG but any idea where I might find Anno (Ubi store doesn't have it, and Amazon has it for some ridiculous 40 bucks when I checked).

GOG also has Zeus and Pharaoh, two fantastic city builders, and of course Startopia, although I'm guessing from your game options that you have a low-spec computer. Space Colony is a very underrated gem of a management game, though no digital copies are sold.

Hmm I did play Pharaoh and Zeus back in the day but somehow never quite clicked with me as much as, say, Knights and Merchants which I spent countless hours on. Odd, no?

Comrade, Listen! The Glorious Commonwealth's first Airship has been compromised! Who is the saboteur? Who can be saved? Uncover what the passengers are hiding and write the grisly conclusion of its final hours in an open-ended, player-driven adventure. Dziekujemy! -- Karaski: What Goes Up...

After finishing up Alan Wake (generally a thumbs up) my wife is hungrily rushing into the American Nightmare DLC. Mixed feelings about it so far but having a blowout with some decent firepower is the cathartic.

Played an hour of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria this morning. The spec-specific quest rewards is quite a horrible new feature that was apparently copied from Star Wars: The Old Republic. Not impressed with that implementation at all. Less choice is not good, but making it cumbersome to even have any choice is much worse. On my healing character I do quests with a damage-dealing spec, and have to resort to either dumping loads of gold on vendor-sold items for my healing gear, or switching my spec each time I turn in a quest. Meh.

Last edited by Tritagonist; 27-09-2012 at 09:04 AM.

"He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free". ~ Luke 4:18

Loads and loads of Starbase: Orion. Which isn't a PC game, I know, but it's the closest thing to Masters of Orion that I can play without being plugged into the wall.

I was hitting King of Dragon Pass pretty hard not long ago. It's not the easiest game to play, but once you understand how the hero questing works it's a bit easier. Oh, and managing your cows. So many cows.

What quest was that? Don't remember such a thing, is it from the restored content?

I guess it's restored content, just because I can't remember it too. You also get to visit a part of the hospital that was inaccessible before. Unfortunately I can't find a good list of all the restored content so I'm relying on my memory to identify the restored stuff.